Quote:
Originally Posted by dqmot17
There will always be teams like HOT, Wildstang, Thunder Chickens, that have more resources than everyone else (money, kids, mentors).
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You dont need a crazy amount of resources to build a robot that plays on the same level as these guys, you just gotta think
us as an example
27ish kids
1 self employed architect
1 controls mentor
1 guy whos been in maintenance for awhile (knows too much random stuff)
1 retired mechanical engineer who only does our welding
and plenty of exuberant helpful parents
this years bot had no CNC'd parts on it, the most complicated parts were done on a manual mill, and there werent too many of those. The majority of teams ive seen at competitions could build our robot.
One of the biggest things ive seen that seperates the good from the best is the strategy the teams decide to play and how well they design the robot to suit it. I myself view week 1 and 2 of build when the idea is coming together as the most important step in determining your success that season.
Ive also seen team come up with an amazing strategy then start building the bot and keep making compromises and "settling" for less (dont do this lol).
So these "powerhouse do amazing every year teams" mainly just have their strategy system nailed down, and know how to build a robot to suit it, and also make it pretty because they've honed the efficiency to allow for the extra time of powdercoating anodizing etc.